Foxconn: Bill limiting local governments could hurt Racine County hiring for jobs related to massive plant

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Racine County’s top elected official is warning a measure the state Senate plans to take up Tuesday could hurt efforts to hire local people to work on projects generated by Foxconn Technology Group’s planned $10 billion factory.

The measure, Assembly Bill 748, would bar local governments from establishing employment policies more stringent than state law, including provisions aimed at encouraging hiring local residents.

The Assembly approved the bill 58-32 last month.

In hopes of protecting Foxconn, the Assembly tacked on an amendment preventing the legislation from applying to that company and some related projects. That would mean local governments couldn’t regulate worker policies — except for those connected to Foxconn.

Foxconn Technology Group plans to build a large flat-panel display manufacturing plant in Wisconsin.

But Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave in a memo wrote that the measure could nonetheless hurt efforts to make sure people in his county — where the Taiwanese tech giant is building its plant — get jobs connected to the project.

For one thing, the provision carving out Foxconn could be thrown out by a court, he warned. For another, jobs for certain road and water projects wouldn’t be covered by the Foxconn protections, he said.

“There will likely be other construction projects that may or may not be related to Foxconn … where we want local hiring provisions and worker-training incentives or requirements to help Racine County residents get hired,” Delagrave wrote. “The amendment doesn’t protect any of these projects so our local workforce efforts would be prohibited.”

Whether the measure can pass is unclear. Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) has not decided if he will vote for it, according to his office.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Allouez) said he didn't like the exemption for Foxconn that the Assembly put in the bill.

"If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander," he said. "I don't see how you can say the rest of the state has to comply but Foxconn doesn't."

Republicans control the Senate 18-14. All Democrats are expected to oppose the bill. If two or more Republicans side with them, the bill would fail.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) did not respond to questions about the criticisms of the bill or say if it would change whether the Senate takes the measure up on Tuesday, which is to be its last session day of the year.

The state's largest business lobbying group, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, is backing the bill and posted messages on Twitter on Friday urging senators to approve the measure.

Doing so would "stop expensive regulations, protect jobs and support local employers," one tweet said.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker hasn’t determined if he would sign the bill if it got to him, according to his spokeswoman, Amy Hasenberg.

Walker led the negotiations to get Foxconn to locate in Wisconsin. The company is getting state and local incentives worth about $4 billion.

In his memo, Delagrave wrote that the bill on local policies could have a number of unintended consequences.

“This bill is extremely broad, so we can't necessarily know what an aggressive group of lawyers might try to prohibit under this new legislation,” he said.

Officials who violated the terms of the legislation on local policies could be jailed — an unusual provision that Delagrave said would make officials unlikely to adopt policies favoring hiring local workers.

“When local town, village, city and county officials find out about this provision, they could, and probably will, be very unhappy and unlikely to pursue efforts to support local hiring,” Delagrave wrote.